Chris Nash spent 15 years in senior cricket for Sussex before deciding that it was time for a change. His move to Nottinghamshire was not seen as a short-time flourish - he said he wanted to play until he was 40 - and it gave him a chance to renew acquaintances with Peter Moores, the Notts coach who had been in charge of Sussex during an unprecedented run of success in Nash's formative years.

Nash joined Nottinghamshire with 11,424 first-class runs at 38.72 and more than 6,000 runs combined in limited-overs formats. He left Sussex after a season in which he had been passed over for the captaincy following Luke Wright's resignation, and with the county under scrutiny after the removal of coach Mark Davis. Nash's Championship form had suffered, although he finished top of Sussex's T20 averages in his final season, a fact which no doubt was not unnoticed at Notts, who had just won domestic trophies at 20 and 50-over level and had seen Michael Lumb and Chris Read retire and Brendon Taylor move back to Zimbabwe.

Nash, Cuckfield-born, had developed into one of the most dependable batsmen on the county circuit. His busy, combative style might rarely have interested England, or indeed many outside his own county, but it frustrated many a county attack as he has served Sussex for so long. The respect in which he was held also earned him the Sussex vice captaincy after 10 years in the first-class game.

Nash made his Sussex debut as cover for the injured Mark Davies in 2002. It took five years from then for him to really break through into the first team. In 2009, he passed 1,000 Championship runs in the season for the first time, making four centuries along the way. He repeated the feat in 2010, helping Sussex win promotion back to the top flight and winning him a place in the England Lions squad in 2011.

That he was an integral part of the Sussex set up was further emphasised in 2012 when he was named in the PCA Team of the Year for a season of all-round excellence. As his career progressed, he developed a habit of picking up useful wickets with his offspin and his busily-made runs in Sussex's Friends Life t20 campaign helped them reach finals day. It was no surprise therefore to find him to the fore as the 2013 season ended, his century not only allowing him to pass 1,000 first-class runs again, but bringing Sussex third-place prize money as they beat a Durham side which had already secured the title.

A burst appendix disrupted his 2014 season, an unfortunate episode not helped by a post-surgery gangrene infection. By September, though, a big hundred against Notts at Trent Bridge, his only century of the season, suggested that his busy style had been restored to the full.
ESPNcricinfo staff

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